Wastelander

by Trever Bierschbach

"Thelos was once a world just like your own, many ages ago. The legends tell us the world was full of wonder, machines that did everything, and every person had everything they needed. Those myths are so old no one knows if any of it is true, but what we are sure of is something terrible happened. A cataclysm ate the world and left behind pain, sickness, and hunger. Few survived, but those that did learned to live in our new world. Today it is said that some parts of the world have regrown into a lush and beautiful paradise. If those rumors are true, I've not seen it, nor met anyone who has. All I have is the wasteland, as far as the eye can see. Some food can be grown, but it's hard and tasteless. Some animals can be hunted, but they are dangerous. Water is out there, but you have to find it.

I am Dez, just another wastelander trying to survive in our world. My sister was taken many years ago by the warlord Pontius, a tyrant who has gathered an army of people who take what they want and leave behind the bodies of those who protest. My parents were just such people, determined not to give up our meager farm and tiny spring. His army strikes out across the wasteland and disappears as quickly as they appear. I was hunting when they came, and when I returned my mother and father were dead, and my sister gone. It wasn't difficult to find out who was responsible so now I search for his hidden fortress, and my lost sister."

Wastelander is the first novelette from Trever Bierschbach.

26 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 14, 2013